The Journey of Marina
by The Stargazing Cat
Summary: This story uncovers Marina's life before becoming an Inkopolis pop-star. How did she come to leave the Octolings?
1. Chapter 1

The door of the Zoanthus Orphanage was slammed closed behind Marina as she stepped back inside, focusing hard on not tearing up.

The visitors' room you entered as you stepped into the orphanage doubled as a living room, where the two caretakers of the organization were often found. The younger of the two was taking a short break, reading a book. She jumped slightly at the harshness of the slammed door, and, seeing Marina drag her feet into the living room, stood up immediately to comfort her.

Marina had been returned.

Again.

How many people had "tried out" adopting her? There were too many to count. Every time, she was brought back with some kind of excuse.

"She's odd. I don't want a strange child."

"A weakling. She isn't fit for my household."

"She's…just not right. Something's off about her."

As the years passed, Marina had made friends, lost friends, made friends, lost friends. They had all been adopted. They were wanted…except one. The only other Octoling in the entire orphanage who had remained there throughout the years was a girl about the same age as Marina named Eloise.

Marina loved Eloise with all her heart. She clung onto her as if she were her life force.

 _Don't complain,_ the young Octoling reminded herself. _You're lucky. You have Eloise, and a kind, loving caretaker._

Well, one of them was loving—Corinna. She was a tall Octoling with long, flowing, deep-red tentacles. She understood Marina, and knew how to comfort her when she was feeling down. Her older sister, the real head of the orphanage, was cold and harsh. She wasn't very fond of Marina at all.

Corinna rushed to Marina and swept her off the ground, giving her a tight hug. Marina sobbed silently in her arms.; she couldn't help it. This couple had seemed so happy with her. She felt home at last, and she had still been smiling brilliantly when they had "taken her to get ice cream". She should've known where they were actually headed.

Corinna loved Marina, but she was too young to adopt her herself. At least she would remain somewhat like an older sister figure to Marina.

She craned her neck to see the entryway, but the couple had left without an explanation.

 _Another rejection,_ she thought sadly. _No child should have to go through this. She's only eight, and she's dealing with such an emotional rollercoaster._

She stroked Marina, and carried her to sit down on the sofa. While Marina calmed down, Corinna wondered about Marina's future.

The other couples were right; Marina _was_ different from most Octolings. She thought differently, and Corinna could see it, even though the young Octoling was so little. She would do great things, and she was sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

_7 years later…_

Marina woke up to the sound of noisy chewing.

Startled, she sat up quickly and looked to the side of her bed, where an Octoling about her age sat, stuffing dumplings into her mouth.

"ELOISE, THOSE ARE MY DUMPLINGS!" She yelled, whacking her best friend on the head with her pillow.

Eloise swallowed, and then started laughing. "You slept in way too long! I was worried they would get _old,_ so I took responsibility and made sure they weren't wasted."

Marina was laughing now, too. "I got them _last night._ Come on, you know hard it is to find this kind of food!"

"Alright, alright, don't freak out on me. I saved half for you.'

Eloise handed Marina the container, which had only two dumplings left. "Uh- _huh. 'Half'."_

"Hey, it's better than what I saved for you last time!"

Eloise was a somewhat short Octoling with bright green eyes. Her hair was extremely strange for an Octoling and resembled fried shrimp, earning her the nickname "Prawn"; she had dozens of thin tentacles that bounced around in tight curls.

The two looked around the bunks in the large dorm room. There were about 50 bunk beds in the room in total, each one the bed of an orphan. The orphanage was packed; yesterday, the last bed had been taken, so the older Octolings had been told that soon they would have to sleep on mattresses on the floor in order to give younger ones a chance to stay.

Marina and Eloise exchanged bittersweet expressions. The night before had been their last night sleeping in their beds, and not because they were moving to mattresses; Octoling Law stated that once an Octoling turned sixteen, he or she must move into a house of his or her own.

That applied to those living in orphanages, too; today, the two would leave and become roommates in an apartment at Bluering, a building in one of the worst neighborhoods in Zoanthus.

Actually, probably only Marina was turning sixteen today. Eloise was found abandoned without any information, but she was about Marina's age, so she was allowed to leave with her.

"So I guess this is it," Marina said, smiling half-heartedly. "I'm going to miss this place."

"Y'know…so am I. I think…maybe we were meant to…you know…stay here," Eloise said.

Marina cocked her head at her. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Just…this place has been good to us. And I don't know what I'd ever done without you if I were adopted."

Marina smiled at her. "Me too."

Marina was sad to leave what had become her home for the past 13 years, but she was excited to move into the next part of her life. Her life at the orphanage was safe, but it was restricting; there was a repetitive daily routine, and she was seldom allowed to explore the city.

But now, she would be free.

"I guess we should pack up," Marina said, yawning sleepily and standing to stretch.

"Correction: _you_ should pack up, you lazy fish-head. I finished three hours ago!"

Marina hopped off the bottom bunk and pulled out a teal suitcase from under her bed. The Octarian economy wasn't exactly in good shape at the moment, so she was especially grateful that Corinna had given it to her.

It was small, but not too small; Marina didn't own much. After changing into her clothes for the day, a grey tank-top with blue shorts, she packed her pajamas and other clothing. Then she put away her other belongings, like her leather sketchbook, pencils, and little trinkets she had collected over the years.

She opened the drawer in the nightstand by her bed and reached all the way to the back of it, where she kept her wallet. She didn't have much, but after starting a part-time job at a craft store, she at least had enough to get by for a month or two.

She and Eloise had agreed to split the rent, so that would make everything easier, anyway.

Marina popped the two dumplings in her mouth as a rushed breakfast, and said her final goodbyes to the dorm room.

As she walked towards the living room to try to find Corinna, memories of herself as a young child running around the halls with Eloise came rushing into her. The orphanage was all she knew; she was actually a little bit scared to leave.

The living room was empty, and then Marina remembered that Corinna was probably cooking lunch; she remembered that it was 12:45 PM—that was probably why the dorm room had been so empty.

She walked down the main hallway and turned left into a large dining room with a long wooden table. Octolings ages two to fifteen sat around the table, and those who were younger had a separate table with special chairs. A few of the other orphans greeted her, but most of them weren't fond of her.

Most Octolings lived similar lives; fed by their parents, though not necessarily taught morals or good habits. When you turned five, you would start your military training; not every Octoling would actually become a part of the Octarian Army, but a good amount of knowledge in battle was considered necessary in order to be a "real Octarian".

Marina, though, was declared "unfit" for the local military academy. For that reason, she was abandoned by her parents. Even to other kids, if someone didn't get in, it was a big deal; you would definitely lose most of your friends. But Marina considered herself lucky, though; in some cities, you were shunned.

"I'm really going to miss Corinna," Eloise said, walking beside her. "She was always so nice."

Marina nodded. "Yeah…We'll come visit, though."

The two headed into the kitchen where, sure enough, Corinna was busy stirring soup in a huge metal pot.

She turned around to see them, and her face lit up.

"Are you going to stay for lunch?" She asked hopefully.

"Well, we were going to go ahead and—" Eloise was cut off.

"Come on, one last lunch before you go? I'm technically still in charge of you until 1 PM."

They smiled. "Okay, one last lunch," Marina decided. She hadn't eaten much for breakfast, so she was still hungry.

They sat at the only two empty seats which were next to each other at the closer end of the table.

"So," Marina said. "Think you'll go into military?"

"Oh, come on, we've been over this! No way."

"Are you _sure_? A lot of people love it. I don't want you to stay just because I am; I'll be fine on my own. Not many people get a special invitation from a commander."

Eloise shook her head firmly. "No. It's not for me."

Eloise had gotten into and graduated from the military school, unlike Marina, and she was one of the best in her class. Marina couldn't understand why someone so good in battle would pass up an opportunity like that.

Corinna served the soup she had made, and the two scarfed it down; Corinna only cooked every Saturday, which was the usual cook's day off, so this was a rare treat.

Marina checked the clock on the wall: 1:01. Legally, the orphanage was no longer responsible for them.

Once they finished, Marina and Eloise went to say goodbye to Corinna again.

"We've gotta head out now," Eloise said, walking into the kitchen, where Corinna was washing dishes. She took off her gloves and hugged them tightly.

"Thank you for everything. It's been wonderful," Marina said, pushing back the idea that the whole point of an orphanage was to be adopted by a family, and that was exactly what hadn't happened. Other than that, she really had enjoyed her time there.

But due to the large number of people, there were strict rules; there wasn't much freedom. Now, she would see what normal life was like.

Corinna wished them luck and asked them to please visit, and with that, they picked up their suitcases, and made their way out the building.

Corinna's older sister, the head of the orphanage, was sitting on a chair, and payed them no attention as they left.

But they were used to it; she was like that with everyone.

They closed the creaky door behind them and breathed in deeply. Today's projected sky was mostly clear, with bits of light-gray clouds around the horizon. Marina always wondered who chose how the sky would look each day.

The city wasn't exactly paradise, but compared to being cooped up every day, it felt great. Most buildings were old and shabby and there was litter lining the streets, but it wasn't dangerous to walk around or anything.

She had only known the route she took five days every week to the craft store, so getting a chance to look around freely made her excited.

"This is it," Eloise said. "The rest of our lives is before it."

"It was always before us, really. We're still the same Marina and Eloise."

Eloise rolled her eyes at Marina. "Always so technical. You're such a nerd."

Marina stepped onto the sidewalk. The whole city was before her, and with shining eyes, she headed down the street, her first time as an independent Octoling.


	3. Chapter 3

Marina and Eloise had caught a taxi, and were soon on their way to the west, towards Bluering.

The atmosphere around them gradually became less and less polished, and sirens could be heard in the distance. Buildings were more packed together in this part of the city, and less people were outside walking.

The feeling of the area gave Marina a slightly anxious feeling, but Eloise was smiling through it all, so that reassured her a bit.

Eloise offered to pay, once they arrived, and the two stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of the building.

It was certainly…something.

The building was made of old red bricks, most of which were chipped on the edges, and the windows were slightly yellowed. The structure as a whole had a general "wearing away" kind of air. Above the two wooden doors at the entrance was a stylized blue oval with a flickering LED sign that read "Bluering"…something had a familiar feel.

They pulled their suitcases out of the trunk, and the driver left without hurriedly. Eloise skipped up the steps in the front of the building, and Marina followed closely behind. She heard a shriek, and Eloise jumped back, almost knocking Marina over; by the door was a small grey rat sniffing at the air.

She wasn't afraid like Eloise, but she didn't feel great about living in a rat-infested home.

"Oh, no… I hope those aren't everywhere inside."

"I am MOVING OUT IF THEY ARE!" Eloise yelled, kicking open the doors.

Inside was a small desk to the right, where an urchin with blue and purple spikes was dozing off. The Octarians and Urchins often traded with each other, so the two societies were close. Some Octarian cities had even more Urchins than Octolings.

"Hello? HELLOOOO, sir! Wake up! What are you doing, snoozing on the job?" Eloise exclaimed, striding over to the desk.

Marina wanted to crawl back and hide. Eloise was great and all, but she could be very…bold.

The urchin popped one I open. "I was _meditating,_ you idiot."

"No breaks for the working!" Eloise retorted.

He scoffed at her, opening his other eye. "Wha' do you want?"

Marina decided to step in before Eloise made anything worse, as much as she hated talking to people she didn't know. "Sorry about…that. We're moving in today."

"Mmm. Let's see…" He rummaged through some files and found and pulled one out. He looked at it, then at them. "Yep, this is you. Marina and Eloise?"

"Yes."

"What room?"

"305."

The urchin pushed his feet on the ground, sliding himself in his swivel chair to the back wall, where there was a wall of keys with different room numbers under them. He unhooked two of the "305" keys.

"Umm, sir?" she said timidly.

"Yeah?"

"Why is—umm, why are there so many keys for each room?"

"Well, the staff needs to be able to get in, y'know."

"Yeah, can we please not do that?" Eloise asked, toning down her voice a bit.

The urchin shook his head. "We need them. For…security purposes."

Marina hadn't even stepped inside her room, and she already wanted to move out. He dropped the keys in her hand, and she shot Eloise a look to keep quiet.

"Thanks," she said quietly, and headed towards the elevator.

"Elevator machine broke," the urchin called.

Marina sighed. "Understandable."

"Have a nice day," Eloise grumbled.

Marina pulled open a rusty metal door with a "stairs" symbol next to it, and together they lugged their suitcases to the third floor of the shady building.

The hall was dusty and had no air-conditioning. Marina coughed a bit as they made their way to Apartment 305.

 _The orphanage wasn't in such bad shape,_ she thought. _Okay, don't complain. It's enough to start out with._

As they approached the door, Marina could here heavy music with an endless guitar solo coming from around that area. Eloise rolled her eyes. "Great. Quiet neighbors."

Marina opened the door to their apartment and stepped inside. Surprisingly, it was a lot nicer than the rest of the building. It only had one room and one bathroom, but it was pretty polished compared to her expectations.

"Not bad," she said, setting her suitcase down.

There was a large window on the far side of the room, with quite a wonderful view of the ragged building next door with some trash in the alleyway between them. But inside, there were clean white walls and two twin beds. Beside each was a blue nightstand, and on the right wall was a dresser. Above a shelf by the bathroom was modern painting of a beach with violet waters.

"Oh my God," Marina exclaimed. "I've been here!"

Eloise gave her a puzzled look. "You have? When?"

"I-I don't know, I think… I think I stayed here one night. With a couple who…tried me out," She had mostly gotten over being brought back so many times, but she wasn't sure Eloise had, so she changed the subject. "So this is pretty nice, right? I mean, it's not great, but it's a lot better than I expected."

"For sure! I could totally live here."

Marina laughed. "Well that's good, because you are, and, judging by the economic status, probably will for a few years at the very least."

Eloise's shoulders sagged. "Yeah. I guess we'll need to do some redecorating, then!"

A sharp increase in the volume of the music next door made Marina jump a little.

"They better not do that at night," Eloise mumbled. "They'll have me running after 'em with a frying pan."

"Frying pans are for the salmonoids," Marina said, remembering the old saying. Octarian society had an immense poverty issue, but there wasn't much sympathy for them, due to Octarians' hard-shelled nature, and that was something passerby often said to panhandlers.

"Ugh! That saying makes me SO ANGRY! WHAT is with the whole 'we're better than you' thing that EVERY OCTOLING HAS?"

 _Everything triggers her,_ Marina thought. She didn't agree with the saying either, though.

They spent the rest of the day getting settled in and chatting about their new schedules. Eloise would continue working at her job at the local supermarket, and Marina would continue working at the cash registers at Cirrina's Crafts. Tomorrow was Sunday, another day off; the two had decided to get to know the city during this opportunity. They both agreed that their neighborhood was a _little bit_ sketchy, so they wanted to figure out which routes were the best to take every day.

At about 7 PM, Eloise asked Marina if she wanted to go grab dinner.

"Yeah, sure. Where?"

"Well, there's this place down the street—I don't think it's too expensive—that serves really good shrimp."

"Are you serious?! That's amazing! I haven't had shrimp in _ages!_ I'm not walking, though. We're getting a taxi."

Eloise sighed. "Come on, it's like a block away!"

" _Not_ until I get to know this place," Marina insisted.

"Ughhhhhh. Always so worried about everything. Alright, let's go," she said, grabbing her wallet and heading out the door to go have their first meal outside the orphanage.


	4. Chapter 4

A shrimp restaurant in an Octarian city.

You might say it's repulsive, but the Octolings didn't know any better. The Shrimpians lived south of the Inklings, so they were completely blocked off. For many decades, the Octarians didn't have a stable food source, as their diets were drastically different than those of the Urchins next to them, and they weren't on very good terms with the other three societies living by them (The Anemone, The Inklings, and the Jellies).

Many Octarians didn't even know the Shrimpians _existed,_ so it didn't seem strange at all to them that they were the new food source, and those who did were convinced that they were a savage species.

The Octarians had made a deal with the Urchins that they would supply them with Shrimp (their societies' territories border each other), and in return, the Octarians would supply them with power; The Octarians, rather than using a Zap Fish, used a Bolt Eel, which would live for hundreds more years than a Zap Fish. The Urchins had always struggled with electricity; only the wealthier cities would have it, and it came from expensive, water-powered mills.

But one day, the Bolt Eel was found dead from an unknown cause. Not only would this get rid of the Octarians' electricity, but it would cut off the shrimp deal with the Urchins.

During the past few years, the Octarians had learned how to successfully farm underground, so when this happened, the food wasn't a problem, though shrimp did, of course, become a rare delicacy. Power, however, was a larger issue. Almost two years had passed since the death of the Bolt Eel, and all Octarian Cities were living off of emergency generators. Thanks to the Octarians' advancements in science compared to the other societies, they were able to create generators that lasted for very long periods of time.

But one day, the generators would stop working. The Octarian society was in a state of emergency.


	5. Chapter 5

Marina and Eloise exited the taxi and entered the restaurant, which was really more like a booth on the side of an alleyway than an official restaurant. Lanterns lit the area, which was becoming more and more common in buildings as the months since the Bolt Eel's death passed by.

Only three other Octolings were dining at the place, but that wasn't too bad, especially considering the fact that there were only ten seats in total. The chairs were round cushions held high off the ground, with a bar-style eating table everyone shared. The area behind the bar was one space, about the size of a large bathtub, with a counter supporting a cash register and cooking appliances lining the back. There was only one worker present, a short Octoling with an orange apron stained with grease, and short maroon tentacles.

She set something to fry in a deep-fryer and turned towards Marina and Eloise as they sat down.

She stared at them with an expectant yet annoyed expression. Marina fidgeted with discomfort as she cook continued to stare at them in silence.

"Well, WHAT?! What do you want?" she finally yelled at them.

"Damn, okay, chill," Eloise scoffed. The worker's tentacles flared in anger.

Marina gave Eloise a sharp jab in the side to silence her. "May we have a menu?"

The worker roller her eyes and pointed impatiently above her, where a menu was hanging from the ceiling. The next few moments were agonizing for Marina; one of her most hated things was being put under pressure, and her indecisiveness with what to eat mixed with the worker's continuous stare was just that.

"Umm, I'll have a small order of fried rice with shrimp," Marina decided.

 _Aah. Done with pressure._

"I'll have a large order of popcorn shrimp," Eloise said.

Without a word, the worker turned around, starting to work on their dishes.

"This food better be good, to make up for the service," Eloise grumbled.

Suddenly Marina heard a sharp snap sound, and a slice of grey appeared before her eyes.

"Whoa," Marina said. "That sound looked…weird."

The bubbling noise of the fryer came to a stop, and all of the streetlights and warm glows from buildings' windows dimmed, then shut off.

Marina had a rare condition called synesthesia, which is a crossing of the senses when perceived. She had a kind referred to as "sound-color synesthesia", which meant that any noise she heard would trigger her brain to see colors to go along with it.

That combined with her perfect pitch could make certain noises extra-painful for her to listen to, the worst probably being alarms; most of them produced annoying bulbs or red in her field of vision.

"The power's gone out," Eloise whispered. The cook was cursing loudly at the Octarian government.

"You don't think the power went out in all cities, do you?" Marina asked, dread rising in her chest. To her knowledge, all of the Octarians' generators were connected to one large one in the largest city, Octopany. Others were sure the generators worked individually, though, hence many companies turning to lanterns for lighting to conserve electricity.

Marina wondered why the Octarian government was so secretive about virtually everything. Their society was obviously unstable, and every day, more and more citizens demanded answers.

"Dammit, there's no Wifi!" one of the other customers exclaimed. "Now what? I knew these generators wouldn't last long… they'd better figure out something soon."

"If _all_ the generators went out now, that could…that could mean no hospitals have power. How many patients are going to die because of this?" Marina said, her heart racing.

Eloise shook her head. "…Maybe it's temporary. The main generator could be having some issues."

"Eloise, it's been years since we've started using the generators. I thought we would have run out months ago," she sighed. "Everyone should've been more careful. Why didn't the government send out any orders?! A temporary ban on electrical lights would've been useful."

The cook slid two plates with their meals on them, then went back to grumbling about the power.

"Wait, what? She had time to cook these that quickly?" Marina said, inspecting the food.

"Who cares? I'm starving. And who knows how long it'll be before we eat a cooked meal again!" Eloise dove right into eating her food, then stopped suddenly after her first mouthful. She spit it all back onto the plate. "BLEH! This is disgusting!" she looked closely at her food. "Wait a minute, isn't real shrimp! This is, like, weird tofu or something!"

Marina tried the shrimp in her rice, and agreed. It didn't taste good, but she wouldn't dare spit it back out.

The cook was staring at Eloise with the eyes of a murderer after she spit out the food. "Get out."

"What?" Eloise said, matching her tone.

"Get OUT of my restaurant. BOTH OF YOU. OUT."

Eloise's tentacles flared threateningly, but she obeyed. Marina quietly followed.

"At least we didn't pay," Marina offered.

"What a GREAT first day of freedom! I mean, come ON! What are the chances of all of this?"

They spent the next few moments in quiet contemplation, waiting for any taxis to pass by, but none did.

"Alright, I'm bored. I'm gonna start walking."

Marina really wanted to stop her, but even as they had waited for their food at the shrimp stand, not a single car had been in sight, and the last thing she wanted was too wait alone.

To her surprise, they arrived _safely_ at Bluering almost five minutes later. The walk had actually been quite nice, excluding the three or four times she had jumped at sudden noises around her.

Of course, the elevator still wasn't working, and thanks to the recent event, she couldn't guess when it ever would be.

"At least we won't have any electric guitar issues tonight," Eloise said. Marina nodded eagerly. With her synesthesia, she wouldn't have been able to get a second of sleep.

They made it upstairs and started walking to their rooms, but when they were near, Marina held out a hand in front of Eloise to stop her.

"Shh. Listen," she said, nodding at the door to the room next to theirs. The loud crashing and rattling of drums could be heard, and splotches of yellow and orange appeared before her. "Looks like the guitar person found a way around the outage."

Eloise scoffed angrily. "Of _course_ they would also have a drum-set Of _course_ …"

She turned to look at Marina. "That's it, I'm gonna to tell 'em to stop."

Marina grabbed Eloise's shoulder. "Nonono, really, it's okay, don't you think? Maybe we should wait a few days, you know? To see if they stop?"

Eloise rolled her eyes. "Learn to be more assertive! It's basic manners to be a pleasant neighbor, and they're doing the opposite of that!"

 _What do you know about manners?_ Marina felt like saying, but couldn't bring herself to it.

Eloise approached the door and knocked loudly. A few moments passed, but nothing happened. She knocked again, louder, and the drumming immediately stopped. Marina could hear footsteps approaching the door.

The door was swung open to reveal a surprisingly young Octoling who was about their age. He had messy sky-blue tentacles and was just a bit on the short side. He wore dark sunglasses.

"I-I'm sorry," he stammered. "It's just-I had no idea…I had no idea anyone lived near me."

"It's a freaking APARTMENT BUILDING!" Eloise yelled, and he took a step back.

"I didn't mean to-to anger you, sorry. Really. To my knowledge, the only other people living here are an urchin on the 5th floor and two Ocolings on the sixth; this building's really empty."

Now that he said that, Marina realized that she hadn't seen any other people in the lobby or leaving or entering the building, which she should have noticed since it was pretty large in size.

"Huh. Okay, sure. I'll let you go this time." Eloise said threateningly.

The Octoling didn't know how to react; he raised a confused eyebrow at her. "Thanks…? So, umm, yeah, I'll make sure to, uh, keep the volume down. Where do you guys live?"

"305," Eloise said. "Right next to you."

He grimaced. "Oh. I must have been really annoying, then. Hopefully you've been able to sleep at night."

"Luckily, it's our first night here."

He sighed. "Ah. Okay. Good… Well, uh, nice to meet you…?"

"Eloise."

He nodded. "Eloise. And…"

Marina hadn't said a single word. She had been standing behind Eloise, blushing furiously. Her mind was jumbling with all sorts of incomprehensible emotions she couldn't understand.

"This is Marina," Eloise finally had to say, shooting her friend a 'what is WRONG with you?' look.

"Nice to meet you. Well, uh, welcome. To the building. The whole power outage thing isn't really the best welcome gift, is it?"

Eloise rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. Today sucked. But meh, I'm sure things'll get better."

 _That's so Eloise,_ Marina thought. _Rude and cold one second, friendly the next._

The Octoling nodded. "My name's Riptide. I moved in a few weeks ago. Lemme know if you need anything."

And with that, he disappeared behind the 307 door.

Eloise turned around and saw Marina's face. "Oh, come ON, _really?_ He isn't any different from the males inside the orphanage!"

"He seemed nice," Marina said musically. "Oh, well."

"Oh well? No! No, Marina, you are _learning_ how to interact with guys. Your sixteen, now—it's about time! If you like him, then do something about it!"

Marina could only nod. She didn't really understand what was happening. She had seen him for what, a minute? Less? How could she already like him?

"Alright, lovebird, I'm goin' to bed," Eloise said, opening their door, and then slumping down disappointedly. "Right. No AC."

She threw herself on the bed on the right side of the room. "I call this one."

Marina sat herself on the left bed, but she didn't plan on going to sleep anytime soon. She had always been a night-owl, sometimes not being able to fall asleep until 3 AM, hence her habit of sleep-in.

She looked around the room. _Her_ room. A soft silvery-blue light filtered in through the window, spilling across her bed. The moon.

Well, the fake moon. Marina wondered if the real one looked anything like it.

Many times, she wondered why Octolings lived underground. The history books taught that it was out of choice, that it was safer and the temperature was more constant, but most new that wasn't true. Marina wondered why they bothered trying to teach Octolings the wrong history.

Maybe it was to boost moral support or nationalism. Meh. In her opinion, teaching the truth to a disappointed nation was better than keeping them ignorant and happy.

So much had happened today. She had left the orphanage, settled into her own apartment, witnessed a power outage that would be a national problem for who knows how long, and she had met…her neighbor.

She closed her eyes and listened. Sure enough, he had stopped the music. Or…no…across her field of vision were tiny beige lines, and she recognized those shapes as quiet metallic sounds. She listened closely, pressing her ear against the wall, and realized she could hear the tiny _tk, tk_ sounds of a high-hat. Moments later came pastel-pink-colored puffs, the ever-so-slightly audible sounds of a snare.

Ha. He had spirit. At least he was playing softly, softly enough for most to fall asleep through, but not for one with her condition.

 _Maybe I should go knock on his door again…_ She wanted to get up, but her legs wouldn't move. Her hearts were pounding fiercely. _Nonononononononono, I CANNOT go talk to him. No way. Not happening. Not alone._

It was the strangest feeling. All she wanted to do was go talk to him, but with the same kind of ferocity, the other half of her mind was too intensely nervous to.

Should she get Eloise up? Nah. She was sleeping peacefully. Marina didn't want to bother her.

 _Hrrmph. Oh, well._

She could stand a night without sleep. Octolings were one of the most resilient creatures known; she'd be okay.

In the mean-tine, she continued to listen to the sounds the light drumming next door was making. A good beat. It was quite a nice base for a song. Fast tempo, jumpy and energetic. Shades of blue could compliment the beige…

The next thing she knew, she had grabbed her sketchbook and a pencil, and out of her hands flowed the blueprint for a turquoise melody. It was like something else had taken over; she quickly jotted down the notes—A, A, B, A, G, and so on—and beside them, wrote down the lyrics that appeared in her mind.

Time passed quickly, just Marina with her sketchbook, writing in the moonlight. She didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, the drumming had stopped. This made her alert again, and she looked over what she had done.

She was surprised. This was a new side of her she never even knew existed. She had just written a song.

How? She'd never really known much about it other than the basic notes everyone knew. But she felt strangely satisfied by what she had done. Her heart was soaring.

And that night, Marina discovered in the strangest way a passion that would guide her life from then on. All that followed unfurled from the song she wrote at that moment, a song with brilliant shades of blue and green, titled "Ebb and Flow."


	6. Chapter 6

Marina stretched, waking up to beams of artificial sunlight hitting her face. After the first few groggy minutes of the waking-up process, she began to remember what had happened the night before.

She picked up her sketchbook, which had been left on her bed, the page she had written on still held open with a pencil.

 _I…wrote a song. Write._ Thinking about it now, it was so random. What kind of person just spontaneously wrote songs in the middle of the night?

Looking it over, she felt good about it. Her generous use of the blue-green note F# would definitely complement the royal-blue G.

Eloise, as always, was awake already, reading a magazine and eating cereal straight out of the box. "You're awerk," she said, her voice muffled by the food in her mouth.

"Yep," Marina replied, hopping up from her bed. "First time waking up in our apartment. How'd you sleep?"

"Fine. I'm glad our neighbor decided to shut up. What about you?"

"I got like four hours of sleep. I'm glad you didn't hear him, but our Riptide actually didn't shut up. He kept drumming, just quietly."

"Oh, Marina…You should've told me! I would've switched beds with you. Or, you know you what? You should've told _him!_ To the face! If you want something, you _get_ it!"

She nodded absent-mindedly. Eloise told her these kinds of things all the time, but sometimes following her advice didn't seem like the best choice.

 _She's right, though. You should speak up about yourself more. Maybe not Eloise-style, but you should…_ she thought.

"So, last night, I couldn't sleep, you know, because of the noise, and I guess I got inspired by his drum beat and kind of wrote a song."

" _What?_ " Eloise exclaimed, laughing. "You just, you know, casually wrote a song? I didn't know you liked music!"

"I do," she realized. "Just not in the way most people do."

When she listened to songs, she appreciated things like the colors they created, the repetition of certain parts carefully weaved throughout the songs, or the way the background chords changed the feeling of the song while the melody remained the same. She wasn't sure, but she had a feelin other people viewed music differently.

"Oh, I see, you're acting all _special snowflake-y_ again. Bleh," she said, stuffing in another mouthful of the brightly-colored cereal. After she swallowed and reached into the bag for another bite, her hand came out empty. She gave Marina a pouty face. "We're all out of Oct-Os, and I bought them this morning!"

Eloise had always had the appetite of a whale, yet she never seemed to gain any weight.

"You went out this morning?"

"Yeah, but only to the supermarket. Don't worry, I didn't see the cool stuff without you," looking back at the box of cereal, she spoke again. "By the way, the supermarket was weirdly empty. I mean, obviously they didn't have milk, because it turned sour from the lack of power, but crackers? Bread? I don't know, it was weird. I thought our economy was on the rise."

Marina shook her head. "Sharp decline, actually. Where'd you hear _that?"_

"The newspaper. Look."

She tossed Marina the paper for her to read. "Wait a minute, we're not subscribed to the paper. Where'd you get this?"

"You have to subscribe for these things? I thought they were free! It was outside of Riptide's door," she said, coming to sit by Marina as she read. "It's on the second page."

She flipped the page, and on it was a picture of a happy Octarian pointing to a graph with in line taking a sharp turn upwards.

"'Because of a new burst of tourism in the East and a new gold mine discovered in the North, the Octarian Nation has been wealthier than ever!'" Marina read aloud. "B.S.! The city lacks a ton of resources! Where's all the money going?"

"Probably to the military, like it always has been," Eloise groaned. "You'd think they would invest a _little_ more in necessities for staying alive."

Marina flipped the page, skimming through other headlines. "'Whirlpool City population increases sharply as foreigners move in'…Foreigners moving in? Why would anyone want to live here unless you want to be a soldier or a scientist?"

"Yeah, I thought that too. Keep reading."

Marina finished the short article. Apparently, a famous urchin singer had decided to move into the city, for whatever reason, and brought a tidal wave of her followers with her. Their wealth had helped the local stores, in turn allowing them to improve their products, which attracted even more foreigners.

"Wow. Who knew a singer could make a whole city rich?" Marina said.

"Yeah! And _she's been retired for eight years!"_ Eloise added.

"Well," Marina said. "It's not like we'll ever be able to afford an apartment there. Let's make the most of what we have, and we can work our way up from there."

"Yeah, I guess."

Marina got ready for the day, and the two left as quickly as they could; their room's window was stuck, and with their fan not working because of the outage, room 305 was like a giant oven.

"Alright," Eloise said. They were on the sidewalk, walking towards the center of the city. "We should go buy batteries before we explore. That, and a battery-power fan. Because once the sun comes up, it is IMPOSSIBLE to survive in our room."

At the hardware store, which was relatively large compared to the other stores, they searched the aisles for any batteries, but could find one. After looking a bit more, they decided to ask one of the workers.

"We're out," he said, looking frustrated. "You're the fifth customers asking about them! We are OUT."

"When's the next shipment coming in?" Eloise asked desperately.

"Eugh, I don't know…a month? Two months? Ask later. Our providers aren't doing so well. We've gotta find another company."

Eloise walked away, grumbling angrily, and Marina followed closely.

"Any other store that would sell batteries?" Eloise asked as they walked out.

"Umm…no. Sorry."

"Wow. Great. Alright, anything else we need…? Nah, I think we're good. Let's head to the square."

The Zoanthus City Square was the main point of work and entertainment. Only a block West of it was the orphanage, and it was where the craft store Marina and Eloise worked at was.

To an outsider of the Octarian Nation, the square might have looked a little clunky, but the Octarians enjoyed the generous use of metal in structures, and even enjoyed the look of rust.

"Hey, look," Eloise said, pointing to one of the buildings once they arrive. "Music store. I've actually never gone inside… Why don't you check it out, _music master?"_

"Pff," Marina said. "Alright, why not?"

Walking in, the store was a lot emptier than Marina expected. About half of the shelves were empty, and entire sections of instruments were empty. The only instruments in stock were traditional Octarian instruments; the Octarian Instrument sections were stuffed.

"That's weird," Marina said. "I'd say it was empty because of a lack of money, but clearly they have an excess of some things…"

An item shining in the synthetic sunlight pouring through the window caught her eye. Walking over, she carefully picked up the headphones.

"Wow," she said. "These are…really cool."

They were made of sleek black metal, like the majority of Octarian products, but they were cleanly-cut and polished. Still, though, they retained the bulky Octarian feel. There was a circle of neon blue light on either side.

And then it hit her: The lights were _on;_ the headphones had power!

 _There must be batteries in these!_ She thought.

Part of the reason why Octarian products, most notably electronics, were so bulky was because the Octarian Nation functioned with one kind of battery, to which Octarians referred as simply "batteries".

A new spark of mild rebellion made her want to steal the batteries. She'd leave the headphones, taking only what she needed…

Surely it wasn't wrong if it was out of necessity, right? It was basic Octarian teaching to take what you needed to survive.

Eloise caught Marina's eye and approached her to see what she was holding. She glanced at the price tag on the shelf.

"HOLY CARP, Marina! Those are so expensive!" Eloise snagged the headphones out of Marina's hands to examine them. "Realllllyyyy nice, though…" A smile started to grow on her face, and immediately Marina new what she was thinking.

 _Great!_ She thought with a sigh of relief. _Now I don't have to be the one to suggest stealing._

She would still comply, of course, but perhaps she could be technically considered as not part of the crime.

With a sly glance at the employee at the cash register, Eloise ensured that she wasn't paying attention Indeed, the employee was dozing off lazily.

"No one else is in the store, and the door is _right there._ This'll be a _breeze,_ " Eloise whispered, and then, significantly louder to erase any suspicion (just as a precaution), "The sound quality must be great on these."

 _No, no!_ Marina thought worriedly; she nervously wondered if Eloise talking about the headphones directly as her reinforcement of no suspicious behavior would direct the employee's attention towards them. _Eloise is the master of discreetness,_ she reminded herself. _She knows what she's doing._

After pretending to innocently admire them for a few more seconds, Eloise turned to the side, her left hand carrying the pair of headphones facing the wall so the employee could not see. Marina looked to the cash register again and, thankfully, the employee was still daydreaming.

Eloise casually walked towards the door, making little comments here and there about the instruments and, as they neared the exit, talked about the errands they needed to run.

A few more steps…just a few more…and…

"Thanks for stopping by! Have a nice day!" A cheerful voice called from inside the store. Whipping her head around, Marina noticed a familiar blue-tentacled Octoling bursting out of the "Employees Only" room. Eloise continued briskly, making her way out the door with the headphones.

"Hey! El- uh, what's her name again…? Eloise!" he called, but Eloise continued until she was out of sight around the corner.

"Heh. Guess she…couldn't, uh, hear you."

Marina's heart had started racing again once she caught sight of Riptide, and no matter how strongly she urged herself to calm down, she couldn't help feeling anxious around him. Hew was wearing a black apron, a common work uniform in Octarian stores.

"Mm. Too bad," he said, looking genuinely disappointed, which, to her dismay, bothered Marina a bit.

 _You just met us…what makes you so friendly?_ She wondered. _I'm not complaining, though!_

"So you work here," she said. "That's cool. I have a job at the craft store across the street!"

 _WHOA. That came out…weird? Odd? No…really natural. Smooth one, Marina. You're learning small-talk!_

"Oh, nice! Yeah, I've been working here for a few months. Just turned sixteen…I actually miss my parents, to be honest."

"I wa—" Marina began, but stopped herself.

 _Don't bring up the orphanage. The conversation'll turn into him sympathizing, and that's a little depressing._

"Huh?" he said, stepping closer so he could hear better.

"Nothing. Bye!" She turned around quickly and walked out.

 _THAT WAS SO WEIRD. WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT? ARGHHHHH._

Marina looked down at her shoes as she walked. Why did she have to be so _bad at talking?_ She couldn't just be normal… Shy, nervous-wreck, ball of anxiety…whatever you called it, she hated it.

 _I just said 'nothing. Bye!'…he probably interpreted that wrongly…I bet it came off like I didn't want to talk to him…_

But she did! ALL she wanted to do was talk to him, and yet, all the same, all she wanted to do when she saw him was run away…

 _Complicated, complicated…why do you have to be so complicated, Marina?_


	7. Chapter 7

After a few more hours of mindless wandering around the city, the two Octolings decided to go home.

Marina was tired and decided to take a shower to relax (of course, being an Octoling, she used OctoWater in order to avoid hurting herself). This was another thing she couldn't understand about herself: spending the day going from store to store, talking to many people just tired her out and made her want to go home, whereas with most people—most definitely Eloise, for example—cramming in as much social interaction as possible in one day was fun.

Showers always helped her wind down and relieve the tension that built up through such days; the silvery orbs created by the pitter-patter

As she bathed, a thought found its way into head: she wrote a song, but…who would sing it? Marina definitely couldn't sing (and even if she _could,_ there was _no way_ she would ever get on stage), Eloise loved to sing, but…er…had an _interesting_ voice, and… Marina wasn't exactly close with anyone else.

 _You could just be a songwriter,_ she suggested to herself. _No one you know has to sing it. It could be a business: Marina's Music._

She laughed to herself. The thought of her, probably the Octoling with the least amount of social skills in the nation, being an entrepreneur seemed ridiculous.

 _Through all of these thoughts, you're assuming you'll compose more songs,_ she noted. _Maybe it was just a one-time thing._

But there was something inside her…a _yearning_ to do something important with that music. She didn't know what, but she felt, more honestly than anything else, that it was her job to get "Ebb and Flow" out into the world.

 _You don't actually know for a fact that you're a bad singer…_ she thought. And it was so very, very strange: she hated where this thought was going, but at the same time she loved it.

Her feet tapped to the beat of the song. It was true: "Ebb and Flow" had been stuck in her head since the night before, playing over and over, trapped inside her mind like a caged bird. A

And she wanted to _set it free._

Before she knew it, she was humming the melody, and to her surprise, her humming voice wasn't an ugly maroon like her hair, as she'd expected; it was a deep royal blue ribbon, soft yet powerful, that flowed across her field of vision. It was quite beautiful, actually.

Then she was faintly whispering the lyrics—she hadn't written them down, but yet she knew them to the core—and her voice grew louder and louder until she was _singing,_ singing like she'd never dreamed she could, and what made the scene all the more perfect was that it was _her song—_ her song and nobody else's.

And the caged turquoise bird was free.


	8. Chapter 8

"That was awesome, Marina!"

"Huh?" Marina looked up. She had just gotten dressed and come out of the bathroom.

"Your singing! Marina, your voice is amazing!"  
"WHAT?! Y-you… _you heard that?!"_

 _Of COURSE she did, you idiot!_ She thought to herself. _Why did you sing? WHY did you sing? Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy—?_

"Dude. You were _singing_ , and this is basically a one-room apartment. Of course I heard it! But that's not the point! Marina, please don't be upset…"

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing…" Marina said, looking down at her feet.

"It's not embarrassing at all! I sing in the shower _all the time!_ And you're lucky I was here to record it!"

Marina's heart plummeted. "You _what?"_

"Oh…you don't like that I did that? I'm sorry, I just—"

"Eloise, you—you know how I am! Are you serious? The ONE time I decide to actually sing, I get recorded?!"

"Look, I can always delete it!" she said. "Don't worry, the world isn't being torn apart."

"Wait—what did you even record it on?" Marina asked. "I thought you didn't have a phone."

"Well, you're right, I _didn't_ …but while I was stealthily running off with the new awesome pair of headphones, I found an electronics store and took the liberty of treating myself to one!"

"How much was that? How much did it cost?" Marina asked quickly.

"Umm…I don't know. Like 500 tokens?"

" _500 tokens!_ " Marina exclaimed. She couldn't believe it: Eloise, the person she _lived with_ and was perfectly understanding of their financial situation had just spent _500 tokens._ "Do you know how _long_ that's going to take us to make up for?!"

"Look, I'm sorry! I thought you would be happy, okay? It's not just for me, it's for _us._ You know we'd need one _eventually."_

" _Eventually,_ yes. That was our agreement. Not _now,"_ she said, sighing. "What's their return policy?" she asked hopefully. Very, very few Octarian stores offered the return option—this stemmed from the fact that many Octarian stores were what other nations would call "shady"—but she still had to ask.

"Sorry. We're stuck with it. I promise, though—you'll be glad we have it as time passes."

Marina nodded reluctantly. "Sure."

Suddenly there was the sound of fast, urgent knocking on the door. Eloise rushed over to open the door, and upon swinging it open was greeted with the face of Riptide.

"HI! Hi, guys! Okay, so I know we just met and all, but something REALLLLLY awesome just happened to me."

 _Oh, no. Him again. I'm going to do something wrong, just you wait._

Eloise stared at him suspiciously. "Umm…okay. Congratulations?"

"No, I mean, it includes you guys! If you want…I mean, I know it sounds super weird and I _totally_ get it if you turn down the offer, _but…_ okay, so I kinda-sorta heard your conversation when you first arrived here—you know, about how the place wasn't bad and stuff—and your other conversations made it clear that you're…ummm…not in the best financial state—"

Marina felt like she should've taken offense at such an intrusive comment, but in actuality, she was fine with it.

"I mean, you know the walls are _very thin,_ as you know—I'm not a stalker or anything, heh—so I heard this stuff, and GUESS WHAT HAPPENED?! I WON! I FREAKING WON!"

"Won what?" Eloise asked.

"THE COMPETITION! THE-THE MUSIC THING!" He said excitedly. He noticed their blank, clueless expressions. "HOLY _CARP,_ you guys, do you _live under a rock?!_ It's this big competition where you have to choose a song and make a cover of it—but the cover is only you for the first round, so you have to record yourself playing the different parts of the song and combine it into a video. And I WON! THEY CHOSE ME! I'M THE ZOANTHUS CITY WINNER!"

Marina's heart was fluttering. She felt so _proud,_ for some reason.

"Good job, but…this concerns us _how?"_ Eloise asked impatiently.

"Well, I'm moving on to the second collection of rounds, and it's centered at Octopany."

Eloise nodded for him to continue. "Okay…and…?"

" _And_ I need two people who have never played an instrument to join my team. For the second part, the challenge is to do another cover, but with a minimum of twelve instruments instead of four, and two non-musically-experienced people need to participate. So not only do you need to create a good cover; you need to teach other people how to play instruments."

"Wait. We, umm… I don't want to be rude, but…we _just_ met you. Are you sure you…want us?" Marina asked.

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid mouth! You're SUGGESTING YOU DON'T WANT TO GO!_

"Yes! I actually don't know _any other people_ who don't play instruments," he said. "Wait, that was dumb. I'm not actually sure: you don't play instruments, do you?"

"Nope," Eloise answered quickly; Marina guessed Eloise did this to keep Marina from mentioning her newfound singing talent, just in case voice counted.

"Great! Okay. So. Feel like quitting your jobs?"

Marina's heart dropped. " _What?"_

"I mean…if you're going to help me…you'd need to at least put a hold on your job for a few weeks, and possibly longer, if we advance. Also, we'd all be roommates."

This was a lot of information to juggle at once. This—what should she call him…?— _acquaintance_ had burst through the door and was now inviting them to live with him for a few weeks in a far-away city to be his teammates in a music competition.

…What?!

This was their second day in the apartment, and already they might move?

Octopany _was_ a beautiful city, though…the center of the Octarian Nation's wealth and commerce…

"What do you think?" Eloise asked Marina with a big smile on her face.

"I mean—it's just—I don't want to—"

"Come _on!_ Where's your sense of adventure? We literally just got released into the world. _Now's_ the time to do stuff before we get old!"

It sounded exciting…adventurous…but that wasn't her style, was it? Marina had always liked a simplistic, routine-oriented lifestyle. She didn't like all this jumping around.

But who knows? This may be a door to an amazing life.

What if she stayed? What would happen?

She'd continue working in the failing craft store. As the economy worsened, especially in the lower-ranked cities, the amount of money people were willing to spend on arts and crafts decreased.

Knowing her social skills, she would never get promoted to manager. So she would keep the same job for who knows how many years? And poor Eloise, though she masked it, had always sought an exciting life.

 _Just do it. Say yes,_ Marina told herself. _Who knows how long it'll be before another opportunity like this arises? And that's considering there'll be another one at all!_

 _But…what happens when the competition is over?_

… _Cross that bridge when you get to it, Marina._

"Okay. I'll do it."

"YES!" Eloise shouted. "Good-BYE, YOU TRASH-BIN BUILDING! INKLINGS should be the only one using this place!"

"When do we leave?" Marina asked. She only needed a few more days, just to organize herself before the move.

"Today!" he exclaimed.

"WOOOO!" Eloise screamed. "This is going to be AMAZING."

"Today?!" Marina repeated. "Wow…umm…okay. Okay. How are we getting there?"

"Boat—trains haven't been running, as of yesterday. The boat leaves at 5:00 PM, so be there: Cirrinia Port. You know where that is, right?"

"We'll figure it out," Eloise answered quickly.

Marina sighed internally. _Oh, Eloise…_

She admired her optimistic view on life, but sometimes it was a good idea to plan ahead for the future.

"Okay, perfect! I'll be there!" he said, walking out the door and closing it behind him.

And that was it.

In less than five minutes, Marina's whole life course had switched paths.


	9. Chapter 9

"You _what?!"_

"I-I'm really sorry, but…yes, I'm leaving."

Marina was sweating nervously. She hated being put in such situations.

"How long did you say you would be gone?" the manager asked.

"A minimum of three weeks, but it could stretch to two months."

The manager slammed her fist on the counter. "I can't afford this. I just can't! I can't just keep a spot open where no one will be working for _two months._ You know we need everything we can get. Are you sure you're actually doing this? I can't _believe_ this…two employees in one day."

Marina knew she was referring to Eloise, who had quit a few hours earlier.

"So you're really leaving?"

Marina nodded shyly.

"Dammit, Marina, you know I like you, but…in a situation like this, I have to let you go."

Marina's heart dropped, but she had been expecting this.

"S-So I'm…fired?"

"You're fired."

"…Okay," she whispered. "Thank you."

"Hey," the manager said. "You gotta bring me your uniform back before you leave."

"Oh. Right," Marina said, handing her the bundle of wrinkled black aprons. Again, she expected to be fired, so naturally she took her uniform with her. She nodded her goodbye and headed briskly out the door.

It felt…strange. She couldn't decide if it was a good feeling or not, but now she felt true freedom. Her work wasn't there to tie her down anymore.

She checked the synthetic sun's position in the sky. A small, barely-visible black symbol by it indicated that it was 4:25 PM.

She headed back into her apartment, where Eloise was. Ever since Riptide had invited them, Eloise had been acting extra-giddy.

"You ready?!" She asked, bouncing up from the bed.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Marina said, though she didn't believe her own words.

"Then let's goooooo!" she exclaimed, poking Marina playfully in the shoulder. Marina smiled half-heartedly at her. She was excited, but it all seemed too sudden for her. She at least had hoped for a transition.

Marina grabbed the handle of her small suitcase, her belongings already packed inside. She scanned the room for anything she was missing…

"Oh! Can't leave these," she said, picking up the pair of headphones from her nightstand. She couldn't help feeling guilty about having indirectly stolen them, but somehow she felt like it was worth it. "Okay. I'm ready."

They grabbed the keys to their apartment and lugged their suitcases downstairs to return them.

"Leavin' already?" The urchin at the desk asked. "Ehh, I get it. This place isn't for everybody."

"Thanks," Marina said, nodding politely and heading out the door with Eloise.

The two called a taxi with some of the little pocket money they had available, and Marina took the time of the ride there to contemplate over what was happening. She wondered how they would pay for everything…without jobs, they only had a few thousand tokens to get them by, which wouldn't last forever.

As Marina was leaving, she had run into Riptide again, and he had added that the sponsors for the competition would be paying the rent for their stay in the apartment as the competition ran. Hearing this, she was, of course, glad, but she couldn't help feeling angry that there was enough money to pay for dozens of people's rent, yet not enough for stores to be stocked sufficiently.

As the taxi drove, Marina observed the gradual change in the ambience of the outdoors: the buildings shifted from poorly-built, run-down places to complexes built with fresh bricks and no shattered windows. Of course, the classic Octarian touches of bulky machinery remained consistent.

Eventually Marina caught sight of a wide clear tube that stretched thousands of feet into the air and broke through the LED-light sky. This was a Sky Tube, as they were called. They were extremely fast elevators in the center of each underground dome that transported Octarians to the surface.

When the taxi driver parked, Marina and Eloise thanked him, payed him, and headed in the direction of the tube's entrance. Surrounding the tube was a wide plaza dotted with trees every here and there, which were relatively uncommon in the Octarian Nation.

There were only a few other Octolings in sight; since Octarian cities strived to be self-sufficient, there usually wasn't much need for travel.

Eloise and Marina approached the Sky Tube, where they spotted Riptide leaning impatiently against the glass. He was still wearing his sunglasses. "Finally! Come on, guys, it's 4:32!" With him was a giant cart with dozens of heavy-looking cardboard boxes. He noticed Marina staring at them with curiosity. "My instruments," he explained. "Couldn't leave them behind, of course!"

He jogged up to the Sky Tube Ticket Stand and payed them, retrieving three tickets. "Tickets on me," he said, and the three of them entered the Tube Shaft once the metal doors opened.

The doors closed, and the three Octolings sat down on the chairs provided. They strapped on the required seatbelts (the elevator moved at 70 mph). A small yellow light above the doors flicked on, and the shaft rocketed upwards, pushing them against their seats. In only seconds, they had reached the top. The light flicked off, signaling that it was safe to take off their seatbelts and leave.

They exited into a small dark room with a spiraling staircase that led upwards. Climbing up, Marina could see a ring of faint light on the high ceiling. She had never traveled between cities before (she'd only heard stories about the transportation), so everything was new and interesting to her.

"Once we reach the top, will we be at the surface?!" Marina asked excitedly. Curiously, she hadn't even registered that she would be _at the surface._

"Yep! Wait, you've never done this before?" Riptide asked.

Marina shook her head. "Never."

"Heh. Wow. I guess I'm a bit of a nomad," he said. "Just wait until you reach the top!"

Once they reached the top of the staircase, they were directly below the circle of light, which rimmed the edges of a circular piece of steel mesh.

"Okay, well, you can at least turn into your Octopus Form, right?" he asked.

"I…think so," Marina said. Octolings seldom used the Octopus Form, unless you worked in the military; things like sidewalks, stores, infrastructure were made to accommodate Octolings in their Humanoid Form.

"Yep," Eloise said, which made sense; after all of her military training, it would be very strange if she wasn't used to switching in between the two forms.

"Alright, then! Umm…you guys go first," he said.

"Oh, no, it's okay, you go," Eloise said. "I think my bag broke. I'll be there in a sec."

"I'll wait," Riptide said quickly.

Marina furrowed her brow. Why was he so adamant about going last?

After a few moments, Eloise was ready. She turned into her Octopus Form with one "PLOP" and a small splash of red ink.

"Oh, and make sure you hold onto your luggage! You don't want to leave that behind.

The small octopus leapt up into the air, passing through the mesh, and the dark space above the mesh opened up to reveal a torrent of bright light. It closed up again after her.

Riptide gestured for Marina to go. She was still a little suspicious about his insistence on going last.

 _Alright, Marina… It's been what, three years? Let's see what you remember._

She remembered that it was some kind of strange thing you had to do with your chest…a special inward push or something…

After a few tries, she finally got it right, feeling herself melt onto the floors in a flow of scarlet ink. The whole sensation was strange; suddenly you saw everything grow taller around you, and your eyes shifted places. Once the transformation was complete, she bunched together her tentacles, and launched herself through the mesh.

Once she passed through the mesh, she soared through the opening of the kettle and landed on the grass of the outside, already back in her Humanoid Form.

She was breathless.

The sky was so…blue.

It was real. The _real sky._

And the clouds! They _dimension_. They were no longer flat images, they were beautiful 3D sculptures floating high in the sky.

Marina wondered how many domes would have to be stacked to be tall enough to reach the top of the real sky.

And the sun was _bright. So_ bright. If she looked at it, it _hurt,_ but that only added to her amazement of the whole scene.

"Wow," she whispered. Eloise was in the same state of awe.

Marina heard a splash behind her, and turned around to see Riptide, who was in the middle of turning back into his Humanoid Form.

"What are you doing?" Eloise asked. He was tugging at his cart, which had half-passed through the mesh.

"I can't turn back into my Humanoid Form until I get this cart through," he said through a gurgled, ink-filled voice. "Once I transform back, whatever I'm touching will turn solid again, too."

Eloise and Marina went over and helped him. After a few seconds, they had finally pulled it up onto the grass, and Riptide finished the transformation.

"Okay. We need to hurry! This way!" he said, striding forward with his cart.

As far as she could see, the surrounding area was a grassy plain with patches of dirt and small trees dotting the scenery. There were moving walkways built with a conveyer belt-like structure winding around the place, each one stemming from a sign marking its destination.

Riptide walked in a circle, mumbling to himself as he read each sign. "Ah! This one," he said, hopping onto it. The sign said, "Cirrinia Port".

Eloise followed closely behind, then Marina. The walkway moved quickly, sending them speeding through the plain. Even with the speed of the walkway, the three continued walking forward; they needed to save as much time as possible. Marina anxiously looked up at the sun to check the time, but instead of seeing a helpful little time symbol, she was greeted with blinding light.

Only a few minutes later, Marina spotted a large white structure in the distance, and a few seconds after that, the three of them were deposited onto the grass.

"Cirrinia Port," Eloise said. "This is _so cool!_ Why do Octarians live underground, again? The air Is SO MUCH FRESHER up here!"

"To keep us safe, of course," Riptide said. "Only Octarian blood can pass through kettles," he said. Marina noticed a hint of uneasiness in his voice.

There was something off about him…but what?

Sunglasses, insisting on going last, and a weird feeling he sometimes gave off when he talked…

Once they reached the port, they approached the ticket booth and payed—well, _Riptide_ payed.

"Also on me!" Riptide said in an upbeat tone.

"Thanks!" Eloise said.

"You really don't have to do this…" Marina said, laughing lightly. It was great that he was doing this, but she couldn't help feeling a little bad.

"It's fine," he said reassuringly. "I invited you, after all."

Marina stared at the wide expanse of clear-blue water. She'd never seen a body of water so _huge._

"Is this the Ocean? _The_ Ocean?" she asked excitedly. I-I've heard that it surrounds all nations!"

"Indeed it does," Riptide said, sounding proud of his knowledge.

A screen above the small ticket booth read, "LEAVING IN 5 MINUTES".

"Alright! Let's go!" he exclaimed, running up energetically to the ramp that led up to the enormous white boat. Its sides were shiny and clean, which was a rare find in the Octarian Nation.

"This is huge…," Marina whispered, climbing the ramp. She wondered how often people used these immense boats.

There were only about ten other passengers on the deck, all Octolings except one lonely-looking Urchin.

Marina was soaring with excitement. Her apprehensive thoughts had all disappeared, at least for now; all of the new things she was experiencing occupied her mind.

The deck was made of hardwood panels, and there were chairs arranged in circles of five or six for passengers to sit. In the front of the boat was a room reserved for the captain, and out of its roof jutted a wide tube for smoke.

"This is beautiful," Marina said. She'd never seen anything built in such a clean, simplistic style.

The three Octolings settled in one of the circles of chairs, and Eloise sat next to where the Urchin was sitting. He glanced up at her, then back at the book he was holding, saying no words.

"Hi!" Eloise greeted cheerfully to the Urchin. She was rewarded with a heavy sigh from the Urchin. "Okay, nice talk," she grumbled.

Marina couldn't help but notice that every Urchin she had met so far exuded a feeling of acrimony.

 _TOOOOOOOOOOOT!_

A puff of thick black smoke spewed out of the funnel, and Marina felt a lurching movement from the ship. In a few minutes, the ship had begun movement in the water. Marina stood up to look over the edge of the ship. If she looked closely, she was sure she could see what she thought was something called "coral". Schools of tiny yellow fish darted around it.

Sea water was so different from the water Marina had grown up with; she had only seen lakes, which had only tiny grey fish and large green ones with dull scales. In only minutes, she had seen much more beauty in the Ocean.

"So," Eloise said, always one to initiate conversation. "Does the competition have headquarters in Octopany or something?"

"Yes," Riptide said. "This competition has actually been going on every five years for 75 years… It's pretty amazing. It was…always my dream to win, ever since I was a little kid."

"Have you lived in Zoanthus your whole life?" Marina asked. She wanted him to elaborate on whatever he had meant by him being a "nomad".

"Yes," he answered quickly. Marina gave him a puzzled expression. "I, umm…I thought you said you were a nomad," she said quietly. "Not to be intrusive or anything!" she added quickly.

"Oh! Umm…I meant that I, uhh…I've traveled. A lot. Vacations…" he avoided her gaze.

 _He's getting weirder by the second…_ Marina thought, and another thought appeared in her head.

 _Wait. What if he's dangerous? What was I THINKING? Going to live with a COMPLETE STRANGER!_

What had _happened?_ Marina was boggled; her high levels of anxiety had always seemed to keep her safe. How had she been convinced to do this?

Her body stiffened. She had no idea who the boy sitting next to her was, yet she…was attracted to him, and was _moving in with him._

"How many bedrooms does the apartment have?" she asked quickly.

"Two," he answered confidently, as if he understood her thought process. "I was thinking, you know…maybe you two can share a bed?"

"Yeah! Yeah…" Marina said.

 _PHEW._ That was a relief.

"How's the city?" Eloise asked enthusiastically.

"Oh! I've never been there," he said, laughing nervously. "Sorry if you…thought I'd be your tour guide, hehe."

"Oh, that's okay!" Eloise said. "Just makes it more fun—we get to discover the city for ourselves!"

"So…any songs in mind?" Marina asked.

"No, actually," Riptide said, looking thoughtful. "Any suggestions?"

 _Ebb and Flow. Ebb and Flow. Ebb and Flow. Ebb and Flow. Ebb and Flow._

"Nope," she said simply. Nope. There was no way she'd put her song out there _this_ soon. She'd probably need to revise it one million times before it was ready to face the public, right? What if everybody hated it? Marina was worried she'd composed it entirely based off of its colors, and if that was true, who else would appreciate it?

"Do you guys see colors when you hear stuff?" she blurted out.

 _Oops. That was random._

Eloise laughed. " _What?"_

Oh, right—she'd never actually told Eloise, had she? Marina thought she had… Revising the memory in her head, she realized she actually hadn't; she'd casually brought up the color of a song once, and Eloise had acted all confused, so she had pretended to be joking and had brushed it off.

Riptide looked alert as Marina said those words.

"Like—umm, you know—like someone's voice. When I talk, does my voice have a color?"

Marina was sweating nervously. Usually, she was fine talking to Eloise about anything, but with Riptide present, she suddenly put her focus on seeming as normal as possible.

So what was she _doing_ bringing this up?!

" _No!_ How can—Marina, you make no sense, you know that?" Eloise said.

"Lavender," Riptide burst out.

Marina turned her attention to him.

"Your voice. It's…it's lavender."

A smile spread across Marina's face. "Wait, so—I-I'm not the only one?"

He furrowed his brow. "Why would you be?"

"Well, I just—I mean, I don't know. Eloise doesn't."

"UGH. You guys are making it sound like some kind of elite club. ANNOYING," Eloise said, crossing her arms in protest.

"Wait, wait. I thought this was a normal thing. Doesn't… _everyone_ see colors when there's sound?"

Marina realized she hadn't actually asked anyone else other than Eloise about it. "You know what? Now I'm curious…" she said.

"Wait. What is my voice to you?" he asked, looking excited.

"It's, umm…" she turned her eyes to the Ocean again. That was it! The perfect word to describe it. "Ocean-blue."

He nodded. "Interesting. I always see it as more of navy, but I can see where you're coming from."

"You people are so WEIRD!" Eloise laughed.

"I like that my voice is lavender," Marina remarked. "To me it's aquamarine. But I like lavender."

"Oh! Oh, wait, what color is, umm…what color is 'Current Vibes' by Kelpy to you?"

"I've heard that song! Lime green backdrop with twisting shapes of other shades of green. Also, there are specks of bright-yellow here and there."

"That is so cool! That song is _pink_ to me."

" _Pink?_ " she said, pretending to look disgusted. "No _way."_

For the rest of the time, Marina and Riptide babbled on about people's voices, popular songs, and everyday noises they found annoying or particularly beautiful. Through the excited conversation, Marina had almost forgotten about her suspicious.

 _TOOOOOOOOOOOT!_

The boat had arrived in what seemed to be only a few minutes. An Octoling attendant wearing a navy cap was yelling at everyone to leave the boat. Marina picked up her things, and, together with the others, strolled down the ship's ramp and onto the ground.

Well… _pavement._ Rather than a field of grass, this place was an endless plain of cement. It looked lifeless and stark, yet sophisticated. The air was unusually quiet, only a low murmur rising from the disembarking passengers.

The passengers ahead of them dispersed among a few dozen different moving walkways, but most stepped onto the one heading towards Octopany, as did Marina, Eloise, and Riptide. It was a strange feeling—disheartening, almost—to look back and, instead of getting a last look at the only city she had ever lived in, see an endless sea of unfamiliar blueness.


	10. Chapter 10

There was a line.

A _line._

A _line_ to enter a kettle!

They had had to wait about 20 minutes before being able to descend (Marina descended fairly reluctantly, sad to have to leave the real sky and sun so soon), which, considering how heavy their luggage was, was significantly less difficult than the exit from Zoanthus. One buy one, they shifted into octopus form (Marina taking a bit longer than the others), Riptide, again, insisting to go last. Marina was sure he was simply trying to be polite, but she couldn't help feeling slightly weirded-out on how firm he was about going last.

She was back into pondering over why Riptide seemed so _different._ Marina had no problem with "different", of course, being the epitome of difference itself, but Riptide's behavior was strange in another way.

If she didn't know better, she'd think he was acting like a criminal on the run or something. But he was so _nice._ Plus, he had had a job.

 _What if he committed a crime recently?_ She wondered anxiously. _What if he…rigged the results in the music competition so he could win and have an excuse to leave the city? Then again, moving on to the next round is just putting your name out there even more…_

She let out a frustrated huff. _Marina! Calm down. Not everything is an emergency. Not everyone is bad…_

They had just stepped into the glass Sky Tube, along with a few other Octolings, which gave them an astonishingly beautiful view of the city below. The first thing Marina noticed was how _beautiful_ the synthetic sky was compared to the one in Zoanthus. It still wasn't the same as the real sky, but it was quite close, right down to the painfully-bright light the sun gave off. Marina wondered how everyone told the time if the sun's light was too bright to have a time mark.

The buildings glistened in the suns, most of them painted bright white. There was an abundance of trees around the outer-edges of the city, lining the side of the Dome. Some buildings surrounding the Dome's center stretched nearly as high as the Sky Tube itself. Everything looked so… _clean._

The usual metallic machinery found in Octarian buildings was, of course, still present, but instead built with shining bronze and polished silver. The overly-clean look of the city gave it an other-worldly feel.

They had strapped on their seat belts and were whirring down the Sky Tube, which made Marina's stomach feel like it was flipping. It was a very odd feeling…like her insides were all scrunched together from the force and threatening to escape her body.

When there were only about 30ft left, the elevator began to slow in a surprisingly smooth fashion. They unbuckled their seat belts and, with their suitcases, exited the elevator.

"We didn't need a ticket for the elevator ride…?" Marina asked Riptide.

"Nope. One ticket pays for your exit and your return, It makes sense. I mean, everyone who reaches the surface is only there temporarily."

Marina heard an ecstatic screech coming from her right.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Eloise shrieked, which created a bright yellow slash across the scenery. Marina's heart had leapt at the sudden scream. "EEEEEEE I'm just so EXCITED! I can't CONTAIN IT! WE are in a DIFFERENT CITY! OCTOPANY, OF ALL CITIES!"

Marina laughed lightly. It was a little frightening, moving out of her home city. Oh, and Corinna! What if she tried to find them?

 _I should have told her before I left…Oh, well._ _Wait! Eloise has a phone! No, but…she never went back to the orphanage to get her number._

Riptide was beaming. He was tapping his fingers against his side rhythmically, probably tapping to a drum beat in his head.

Suddenly, Marina's heart dropped.

 _Holy carp. Will I have to be on stage?_

"Uh, Riptide?!"

"Hmm?"

"For the—for the song thingy, uh…am I…going to have to be on stage? Because I—I don't know if I can—"

"Oh! Uh, no, no. Not at first, at least," he said in a reassuring tone of voice. "If we qualify for the semifinals, then yes. Which we _will_ do. I'm sure of it!"

 _Oh, fun. Very fun._

There was nothing worse to Marina than embarrassing herself by doing something wrong, which she had done a surprising amount of times. Now, she would get the honor of embarrassing herself _on stage._

"Okay," she replied quietly.

"YESSS! Oh my GOSH! What if we became _famous,_ Marina? The new Octoling stars!" She glanced at Marina, who was keeping her gaze on the floor, her scarlet tentacles hiding her face. "Oh, wait. I know what you're gonna say. 'I'm too nervousssss….' Don't be nervous! Just be yourself! And , also, please don't be sad if I get more fan letters than you. I just have that stage presence, you know?"

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself," Marina said, chuckling slightly, though under her light tone was a slight feeling of annoyance. She admired Eloise's enthusiasm, but sometimes it could stress her out.

"I'd say we actually have a good shot," Ripdtide said. "That is, with _me_ on the team. I'm lucky enough to have collected the most high-quality instruments in the _Octarian Nation_. Plus, I've got skill. Which I shall pass on to you soon! Speaking of which…you guys need to choose instruments."

"How do the hosts of the competition know whether or not your teammates are musically-experienced?" Marina asked. _Oops. I just ignored what he said. I hope that didn't come off as rude…AGH, why am I so bad at…CONVERSING?!_ "I mean," she went on. "you could just choose other musicians as your teammates and they wouldn't know, right?"

"That's a good question," Riptide said thoughtfully. "I actually have no idea. But…I'm not risking any shortcuts. I need to win this. Umm, so, anyway…instruments! Have any instruments ever peaked your interest?"

 _Voice. Voice. Voice. Voice. Voice._

"Triangle?" Marina said in a small voice. She had completely confused herself; she wanted to sing very badly, yet at the same time, regarded singing as the worst thing in the world.

Riptide glared at her. "Are you serious?"

"…umm…." Marina mumbled.

"Just kidding!" He laughed. "Not bad, actually. People underestimate the power of the triangle. There's a reason why the instrument exists. Okay, so, triangle! You guys each need to do three instruments. So…keep thinking. Oh, and by the way, I'm doing electric guitar, voice, drums, and keyboard for sure. But there can be repeats of instruments…in a way. For example, one of you can do _acoustic_ guitar, and the grand piano's open, too."

"I'll do grand piano," Marina said in a confident voice that startled her. She had no idea what made her say that. Suddenly, pianos seemed attractive.

"Okay! Cool. It's not _that_ hard to master. I'll do the complicated stuff on the keyboard."

"WAIT! Marina! You are _taking up all of the good ones that are left_ after Riptide stole the cool stuff. I want…the…eh. I'll take the acoustic guitar. OH! AND THE RECORDER! Can we do recorder?"

"Uh…" Riptide said. "Maybe. I don't know. I can't really think of a good song with a recorder in it, but I'll do my best." He turned around to face them, walking backwards. "Oh, and by the way, these can be switched out, of course. I mean, we don't know what song we're doing yet."

They had exited the area surrounding the Sky Tube, a flat stretch of bricks similar to the place in Zoanthus, and were currently walking down a street with pearlescent skyscrapers. Or… _domescrapers._

"Alright, we're here!" Riptide said excitedly, staring up at one of the white buildings. It had beautiful, complex patterns painted on its walls in gold.

Marina shocked when she saw the front of the building. There were carefully-trimmed bushes lining the building's walls, and a tarp was set up in front of the front doors, presumably to give shade from the strong light of the "sun". There was an Octoling dressed in formal attire standing by the building's entrance. He looked something like an officer.

"Now _this_ is a nice place to stay," Riptide said, smiling.

"Would you like help with your bags?" The man by the doors asked.

"No, thanks," Riptide said, continuing inside. Eloise was glaring at him with a shocked expression.

" _Yes, I_ would like help, please," Eloise said, shoving her suitcase into the attendant's arms. He raised his eyebrows at Marina, presumably asking if she'd like him to carry her suitcase as well, but she shook her head shyly and walked forward.

Once they were together inside, Eloise began lecturing them. "Are you guys _serious?_ I don't get you guys. Really? _No?_ Why would you say _no_ to someone offering to do something for you?! Honestly, people. You guys are crazy."

"Eh," Riptide said. "I don't know. I don't mind the extra work. Just gives me an extra work-out, I guess."

Marina shrugged as her response.

"I'll check-in for us," Riptide offered, walking up to the building's front desk, where a pleasant-looking Octoling was sitting. There were several other Octolings in front of him.

Marina and Eloise took the time to look around the lobby. Everything, like the exterior of the building (or of the entire city, for that matter), was clean and quite expensive-looking. There was another front desk on the other side of the lobby, where another line had formed. There was another group of three in that line, one of which had vivid violet hair.

 _Definitely unnatural…_ Marina thought, observing the Octoling's hair. She had never seen dyed hair before, but she had heard that dying it was trendy in some cities. In the Octoling's hand was a metallic stringed instrument that looked similar to a violin, which was a rare find in Octarian cities. Her face flashed to the side quickly and caught Marina's gaze in a bright-yellow stare.

Marina looked away and didn't look in that direction again, in fear of being caught looking again. She wondered if the Octoling was a member of a competing team.

"Yes, we're qualifiers…Kef…Yes. Marina and Eloise…umm, I'm not sure," Riptide was talking with the Octoling at the front desk. He looked back at Marina and Eloise. "Hey, guys? What are your last names?"

"Uh. We're from an orphanage, so…" Eloise said.

"Right," he said, turning back to the worker. "None."

Marina had heard around that in other countries, last names were assigned to orphans when they were adopted. But in the Octarian Nation, a law was established that stated that no orphaned children would receive a last name, which she couldn't understand.

In a few minutes, Riptide had finished checking them in, and returned with three room keys. "We're in Room 305. What a coincidence, heh."

Eloise pressed the button for the elevator, and as she did, Marina realized she couldn't remember the last time she had ridden in one, excluding the Sky Tube. It had been years. The elevator doors opened, and they entered the cart, which was enormous. Marina guessed it could fit about 15 people in total.

They had been indoors for almost 20 minutes. Riptide still hadn't taken off his sunglasses. Her curiosity had intensified, but she was hesitant about asking why he never took them off—she didn't want to pry.

 _Try to note anything different about the sunglasses or the ways he wears them,_ She told herself. She could observe. That was something she was good at.

They were a bit bulky for sunglasses, with much thicker frames than the usual pair. She leaned back against the wall, trying to get a view of the back part of them without looking unnatural. She noticed that the part slipped behind the ear had a drastic curve, almost curving fully around the bottom of the year. And…attaching both sides of the sunglasses from the back was a black strap. She had seen those kinds of straps before—it was similar to the one you would find in sports glasses.

 _Maybe that's what they are. Regular sports glasses._ But why wouldn't he have clear lenses? _He could just be too lazy to switch back and forth, so he goes for the pair that's useful in most lighting. Must make his vision a little dark indoors, though._

His head snapped to her direction. He had and odd, almost protective expression on his face. It was…almost like a warning glance. She quickly turned her gaze to the flooring.

There was no mistaking it. He had caught her looking. Somehow, he knew she was suspicious.


End file.
